brothel
Americannoun
noun
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a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes
-
informal any untidy or messy place
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of brothel
First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; short for brothel-house “whorehouse”; Middle English brothel “harlot,” originally, “worthless person,” from broth- (past participle stem of brethen, Old English brēothan “to decay, degenerate”) + -el, noun suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
No-nonsense Maomao, a Tang Dynasty-era girl raised in a brothel who escapes servitude to parlay her apothecary skills in service of the palace, is one of the best female protagonists of all time.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2025
“Poor Things” features Bella, a reanimated woman who has to invent her life, and her guideposts are a prostitute, a brothel madam and a former actress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
Of course, his Spanish background was essential to his genius: “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” was named after a brothel in Barcelona, and “Guernica” was a response to a fascist atrocity in the Spanish Civil War.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 22, 2023
In the show, Louis is a Creole brothel owner who travels in white circles, lamenting in the pilot that he can’t be an “openly gay Negro man.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
The sept tempted him no more than the brothel; his own gods kept their temples in the wild places, where the weirwoods spread their bone-white branches.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Unlike his more combative liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in, Yoon has played down unresolved disputes, such as compensation for Korean women forced into Japanese military brothels during World War Two, that have dogged relations for years.
From Reuters ● Aug. 17, 2023
Starting this weekend, brothels and bars will have earlier closing times and a ban on smoking cannabis on the streets in and around the Red Light District comes into force in May.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2023
The Tabor Opera House quickly grabbed the attention of a bustling, rowdy city full of competing theaters, saloons and brothels.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2021
He rejected accounts of forced labor as "pure fiction," saying the Japanese army "did not dragoon Korean women to work in its brothels."
From Fox News ● Mar. 8, 2021
Faith, sympathy, friendship, love, loyalty, and generosity dwell not merely in palaces and churches, but also in brothels and gaols.
From The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan by Nukariya, Kaiten
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
